May 2014 by Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, Caitlin Quinn

Shelter medicine teams have the opportunity to take the lead in utilizing innovative adoption policies to save more lives. Cutting-edge research reveals that we should focus our efforts on breed-neutral best practices with proven effectiveness to make policy and adoption decisions, rather than relying on breed. Dr. Julie Levy and Caitlin Quinn discuss how to utilize this new information to revitalize adoption programs, decrease length of stay and increase live outcomes in this presentation given at the University of Florida's 7th Annual Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Conference.

Learning Objectives:

Learn how to recognize and overcome barriers in order to make better adoption matches, reduce length-of-stay, and change the way decision makers, potential adopters and community members think about dogs.

Develop breed-neutral policies and procedures to decrease length of stay and increase live release.

Review the latest research on breed and its relevance to adoption programs.

Understand the importance of policy on the way adopter's view dogs and shelters.

Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM

Dr. Julie Levy is director of Maddie's® Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida. The program provides comprehensive training for veterinary students and shelter medicine specialists, shelter consultations, disease outbreak investigations, continuing education, and research to solve the problems confronting animal shelters. Dr. Levy's research and clinical interests center on feline infectious diseases, neonatal kitten health, humane alternatives for cat population control, and immunocontraceptive vaccines for cats. Dr. Levy's accomplishments include publication of more than 100 journal articles and textbook chapters.

Caitlin Quinn

Caitlin Quinn is the Foundation Manager for Animal Farm Foundation. She received her BA in Communications and is currently pursuing a Masters in Public Administration. Caitlin acts as program manager for many of Animal Farm Foundation's initiatives, including the grants and awards program and professional development programs, which include internships, workshops and webinars for animal welfare professionals. She also directs the organization's marketing and communications, including managing promotional and educational content creation. Caitlin's main focus is supporting shelter workers, veterinarians, animal control officers and community advocates in the work that they do to end discriminatory policies and increase positive outcomes, both in their organizations and in their communities.